1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solution for mounting and positioning a print head onto a print head carriage framework. More specifically, the present invention is related to a mounting assembly for accurately mounting an inkjet print head onto a less accurate print head carriage framework.
2. Description of the Related Art
In industrial printing applications, print throughput is an important characteristic of a printing device. One of the parameters determining print throughput in digital printers using a reciprocating print head configuration, e.g., wide format ink jet printers, is the size of the print head shuttle. The wider the print head shuttle is, the wider the area on the printing medium is that may be printed with a single print stroke or pass of the print head shuttle across the printing medium. Several problems arise when using larger print head shuttles in digital printer configurations. As print head shuttles get larger, they get heavier which complicates fast and accurate movement of the shuttle. As print head shuttles get larger, the left and right abutments of the shuttle on the printer frame diverge and the shuttle structure becomes more susceptible to bending and torsion. As print head shuttles get larger, the print width of a single print stroke increases and the throw-distance, defined as the distance between the print head's printing elements (e.g., the ink jet nozzles) and the print surface of the printing medium across the entire print stroke become more difficult to control within acceptable tolerances. Additionally, as print head shuttles get larger, they carry more print heads and accurate positioning of the print heads over the full width of the shuttle becomes more difficult.
These are just some of the problems that arise when scaling up existing print head shuttle concepts for industrial type printing equipment.
In view of the problems mentioned above, the inventors of the present application have discovered that it would be advantageous to have a method of mounting a print head onto a shuttle that relaxes the manufacturing tolerances of the shuttle without compromising mounting accuracy of the print heads relative to each other and to a printing surface.